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The Thirteenth Step	By : ExOnEv Category: 1 through F > Criminal Minds Views: 4503 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds or any characters wherein. No monetary gain for me from writing this, just beautiful and tragic moments in my mind's eye.

Chapter List
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Reid quickly walked into the briefing room, interrupting the team. There was an awkward pause that left him the center of attention. He wouldn't look at anyone. He simply placed his satchel down, opened the file in front of him and waited for JJ to continue.
No one could take their eyes away from Reid for a good long moment. Even when they tried, their eyes always seemed to steal a glance in his direction. The look everyone had on their face was very telling. They were worried. Late two days in a row and obviously distracted. Tense. Reserved.
Prentiss was sitting next to Reid and began to study him. She didn't need to look very deep. He appeared to be absolutely exhausted. His hair was a stringy, tangled mess. Even his clothes were hurriedly put on with his shirt tail nearly hanging out. She found herself more concerned as the seconds passed. She, like everyone else thought he was relapsing. Prentiss recalled the last time this was going on. He seemed to be hit a little harder by whatever he was going through this time. Poor Reid, she thought. She wanted to help him, but didn't know if she could. More so, she didn't know if he would let her. Was it even drugs? She wanted to talk to him later when no one else was around. Hopefully he would open up.
Reid rubbed at his glossy, bloodshot eyes with the backside of his hands, scrunching his face up as he closed his eye lids. When he opened them again, he saw Morgan sitting straight across from him, expressionless and Reid matched his poker face without effort. He could hear Hotch talking in the background now, but he wasn't listening. The others were contributing information and opinion during the briefing, but Reid was dead locked on Morgan, neither of them saying a word.
Prentiss noticed Reid and Morgan glowering at each other as soon as it began. She didn't want Reid or Morgan getting into trouble, so she placed her hand just above Reid's knee under the table, which immediately snapped the tether between them. He looked downward and then looked at her, failing at not being obvious. The look in her eyes was telling him to be careful. Reid looked back to Morgan who could see something was going on between him and Prentiss.
She squeezed Reid's thigh gently, her thumb rubbing the outside of it. Reid cleared his throat. He tried not to look at Morgan and instead attempted to pay attention to Hotch, or at least seem like he was. Morgan gave one last look to Reid and Prentiss, curious now and looking somewhat angry before giving his attention to Hotch.
When the briefing was over, in front of everyone, Hotch said, "Reid, I need to see you in my office."
Prentiss lifted her hand away from Reid, looked at him and then looked towards Morgan who was looking at Hotch. "Hotch, can I speak with you first?" Morgan quickly got up and started scrambling with the file spread out in front of him. Hotch waited for him and they walked away together. JJ left with Garcia. Rossi was right behind them. Reid stayed seated next Prentiss. Neither of them would look at each other.
Prentiss let the air settle before she spoke. "I care about you… a lot… Reid and I don't like to see you in trouble."
"Hotch will be fine. I'm just late. Again." Reid's tone was very dismissive.
Prentiss turned her head to look at Reid. "I'm not talking about Hotch."
Reid wanted to hide. Was it all that obvious? He took in a deep breath and let it out quietly. He felt so much disappointment in himself. While clearing his throat he pursed his lips fighting back the urge for tears. Feeling guarded, he couldn't bring himself to say anything… He felt too emotionally and mentally drained to talk to her, especially right now, but Prentiss was a good friend. He held his hand open next to her lap and she put her hand in his. They held hands until he could say the words. "Thanks, Emily." She watched Reid get out of his seat and he gave her a slight smile. He gathered up his paperwork and satchel and walked out of the briefing room.
Reid saw Morgan over by the coffee and headed straight there, but Morgan saw Reid coming. He took a sip of his second helping of freshly poured coffee and started to walk away, but Reid was too fast. "Hey," Reid said, a little short of breath. "What happened to you last night?"
"No, no, no… We are not doin' this."
What, was Morgan going to avoid him now? Reid couldn't pretend like last night didn't happen. He could feel his face getting hot and his mouth getting dry. Reid swallowed and then spoke in a quiet, stern voice while once again, being brave and attempting to block him from walking away. "It's a simple question. Why did you leave?" Reid's chest bumped into Morgan's shoulder and arm a few times as Morgan kept trying to move around him.
"Back up off me, man." Morgan said slowly as he glared at Reid. "Just what the hell do you think you're doin'?" The look on Morgan's face should have scared Reid.
"Mixed signals, Morgan. You know that term?" Reid wasn't backing down.
Morgan looked around to make sure they hadn't grabbed anyone's attention and then spoke every word with a very heavy weight. "Reid, I'm only gonna say this once…" he pointed at Reid with the coffee cup in his hand, "THIS is not the time OR the place."
Reid eyes shifted as he remembered what he said about nobody knowing. No one was supposed to find out about anything and here he was, acting like this. Reid composed himself and apologized to Morgan with his eyes. He licked his lips and swallowed. "I just think we really need to talk."
Morgan was about to respond, but just then Prentiss walked by to get her own coffee. "Guys…" she greeted cautiously, it being very clear she was interrupting something.
Reid immediately backed up from Morgan and put his hands in his pockets, head down. Submissive.
"Now, if you'll excuse me," he gave Reid a look that Prentiss didn't understand, "I need to go make sure your ass doesn't get written up… or worse."
Reid tried so hard not to watch Morgan walk away. Feeling defeated, he looked at Prentiss like a wounded puppy. "What is going on with you two?" Reid's eyes shot off in every direction except towards Prentiss. He also began rocking on his heels a bit. She stood there waiting for him to say something... anything, but he wouldn't respond. She began to walk away and made it a couple of steps, but then quickly turned around. "Hey, listen..." she started. Reid raised his brows in acknowledgement. "Do you maybe want to go get a bite to eat at TenPenh after work?"
"Oh, uhh…" Reid loosely puckered and then grinned as he considered it. He knew she was going to be a friend and try to get him to talk, but he also knew well enough he could control the conversation by choosing his words very carefully during dinner. "Yeah, okay."
"Okay," she smiled. Reid waited while he watched her fix her coffee up how she liked it. Then he walked with her to their desks, feeling strangely attached to her at the moment.
About ten minutes passed before Morgan was finally leaving Hotch's office. Reid watched him walk down and over to his desk. Then Reid's desk phone rang. Hotch. He answered and told Hotch he'd be there in a few minutes. He exchanged a glance with Prentiss, feeling pretty anxious. After pushing his chair in, he headed towards the bathroom needing to splash some water on his face.
While he was looking at himself in the mirror, water still dripping from his jaw line, he realized what a parallel he was running compared to when he was using. He was gonna have to get a grip or this wasn't going to end well. He ran his hands under the faucet again and then ran them through his hair a couple of times. Splashing water on his face one last time, he heard the bathroom door open. Turning, he saw Morgan standing by the door at his left.
"Morgan…?" He turned off the water and grabbed at the paper towels. Reid didn't understand why Morgan was in there if he didn't want to talk. He watched as Morgan gave the bathroom a once over, making sure there was no one else in there. "What are you doing?" He began to pat his face dry.
Morgan walked over to Reid. "Be ready to take a little time off. I couldn't get Hotch to budge."
Reid stared at Morgan with his mouth drawn open. "Oh…" Morgan patted him on back, his hand lingering for just a moment longer than what would have been usual, and then he headed to the door. "Morgan?" Reid wanted some sort of reassurance about something and his expression begged for it.
Morgan smiled at Reid with his eyes as he reached for the door handle. "Everything's gonna be alright, kid." He was so soft spoken and Reid could feel that brotherly love pulsing from Morgan and it hit him like a wave.
He had to ask. "H- Hey, Morgan?"
"Yeah, man…" Morgan licked his lips and waited for Reid.
"When will I see you again?" Reid didn't mean at work. He bit at his lower lip nervously while he waited for Morgan to answer.
Morgan took a hard look at him and sighed. "I don't know, Reid."
"Tonight?" Reid suggested, hopeful.
"I don't know," Morgan repeated, shrugging slightly to emphasize.
"You want to, right?" Reid started to walk in Morgan's direction. "You want to come see me?"
"Not here, Reid. How many times do I have-"
"Do you know why last night happened?" Reid stopped to leave a couple feet of room between them.
Morgan turned his head, a little annoyed, not wanting to have this conversation. "Because you're a persistent little sh-"
"It happened because we both wanted it to." Reid blinked fast several times, almost like a twitch. "I-I mean," he licked his lips and continued, "I mean, if nothing else, tell me you understand that." He paused and pulled one side of his hair behind his ear before tucking his hands into his pockets.
Morgan clenched his jaw and just looked at Reid. He didn't know what to say to make him understand. "It's not that simple, Reid."
"I know you understand, Morgan." His expression became excited and confident, but Reid realized right then he didn't need to force a conversation with Morgan. If Morgan felt at all the same, Reid would give him time and he would let Morgan come to him. "But if you can't talk about it right now, that's okay. Say nothing, that's enough for me… When you're ready to talk, I'll be right here waiting."
Morgan thought of Reid's comment about mixed signals. He flashed back to last night and was surprised at the sense of heat he immediately felt. He had been a virgin to anything like what happened in Reid's hallway. That was something so raw. All he could really remember was the sweaty heat, the warm wetness and the teeth tingling orgasm he experienced inside Reid's mouth. He didn't want to compare it to anything relating to the sexual abuse he had experienced as a youngster. He wasn't the same person and Reid was no threat. But Morgan was holding back and he needed to figure out why. He needed more time to think about everything. He did know that Reid had him spun, but for now, he wanted to hold his ground and stop this conversation while the gettin' was good. "I gotta get back."
"Ignore it all you want, Morgan, but I know I'm right." Reid eyes were locked on Morgan's once again. They seemed to hold Morgan in place until he deliberately closed his eyes and held them shut.
When he opened them again, he told Reid, "You assume too much." Reid's expression wilted, but Morgan opened the door and walked out anyway. He shook his head knowing he didn't have to beat the kid down like that.
After Morgan left, Reid came out of the bathroom. He quickly went up to Hotch's office and what Morgan said would happen, in fact become Reid's reality. Hotch asked him to take the rest of the week off and to return Monday. Nothing was on the record. No big long speech. Reid didn't know how good of a plan it was, idle hands and all...
When he got back to his desk, Reid immediately started to gather his things. Prentiss looked to Morgan questioningly and then looked back to Reid. She thought that Morgan looked a little bummed and she felt really out of the loop.
"I'm going to have to take a rain check, Emily," Reid said softly to her. He was afraid he was going to hurt her feelings.
Hotch came out of his office and Morgan snapped forward in his chair and picked up his phone and quickly dial a number from a file so he didn't look like he was relaxing; he had been watching Reid.
"That's alright." Prentiss shuffled some paperwork to look busy. "You can call me anytime," she offered to Reid quietly. Reid smiled at her shyly and threw his satchel over his shoulder.
As he walked through the office he passed Morgan's desk and heard him tell the other person on line an interesting choice of words. "I know I'm right, Mrs. Kingsly. It's what I do."
- 5
- 6
- 7
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The Thirteenth Step